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Betting: 2022 Australian Open betting preview

Pamela Maldonado gives her betting picks for the 2022 Australian Open.

Video Transcript

PAMELA MALDONADO: Who will win the 2022 Australian Open? World number one Novak Djokovic is currently listed on the ATP draw as the number one seed, but for how much longer? I'm Pamela Maldonado here to bring you a betting preview for this year's Australian Open. The current betting odds do have 20-time Grand Slam winner Djokovic sitting atop the betting board at +135, followed by world number two, Daniil Medvedev, with the Greek god, Stefanos Tsitsipas, rounding out the top 5 at 20 to 1 odds.

Here's the thing about those odds with Djokovic. This time last year, the Djoker was +110 to win the event, and now you're getting more value at +135? That's a little fishy to me. The three players who can, in fact, win this year's Australian Open are Djokovic and Medvedev or 2020 US Open finalist, Alexander Zverev.

Here's why each player can, in fact, win. For one, all three are fully capable of reaching the final. This is Djokovic's best surface, with nine previous Australian Open titles, including winning the last three straight. Zverev, he has a massive serve on top of an aggressive baseline game. And for Medvedev, he has the most favorable path to the final, and is a baseline grinder with reach, and it is impossible to get anything past him.

If you are looking to back Djokovic, there is a risk involved with that. One, you're hoping that the Australian government doesn't force him out of the country. Two, you're hoping that potentially, as an unvaccinated player, that Djokovic does not test positive any time within the next two weeks. And three, he's actually never won the Australian Open four years in a row. That would be a new achievement for him. And four, we don't know exactly how Djokovic is going to handle, how he's going to respond to the entire chaos of the entire situation.

So that's the big question mark is, does Djokovic play to his full potential and play undistracted? If so, then absolutely Djokovic can 100% make the final, facing Medvedev for a US Open rematch, with hopefully fresh legs and, if not, if maybe COVID pops up, then maybe backing Zverev is the next best option.

So instead, the best betting option for the 2022 Australian Open is backing Medvedev at +165 to win. What I'm looking for also is Medvedev to reach the final. Of these three players, Medvedev is the one with a higher probability of success. Two players that I'm looking to back as underdogs throughout the tournament, Spain's Carlos Alcaraz and the UK's Dan Evans. Alcaraz is a young threat with speed. He has power. He won the ATP Next Gen Finals after reaching the US Open quarterfinal just last year.

Evans is coming into this with some great form, and is one of the few players on the tour right now that has variety in his game that can make a match against Medvedev competitive. One thing that I do know for sure is that the Australian Open is about to get real interesting with Novak Djokovic at the center of it all. Do make sure to check out the Yahoo Sportsbook for a full list of betting odds for the ATP Australian Open.